I Came Back to Save You
by thewulf
Summary: Set during 3.12, New York City Serenade, after Walsh reveals himself as a flying monkey, and before they leave for Storybrooke the next morning. One Shot.


Emma ran down the stairs into the apartment, the door banging-to behind her. A mad-rush of adrenalin was still pumping through her veins and she was breathing hard. She poured herself half a glass of rum, gulped it down, and picked up the bottle to pour herself some more. Her hand trembled and the bottle had almost slipped out of her hands when another hand enveloped hers, steadying it. She let out a breath.

Hook.

Her hand stopped trembling. She tightened her hold on the bottle, and Hook let go of her hand. She turned and threw the glass of rum with violence into the empty fireplace, the glass shattering into a hundred pieces, some of which fell on the carpet in front of the grate.

"Swan!"

"What?!" she snarled, turning to face him, breathing heavily. She was trembling again. Hook came up to her and put his arm around her. She stiffened for a brief moment, but let him lead her to the couch, where she sat down and pressed her fingers to the sides of her head. After a moment, Hook slid down beside her and handed her a glass of water.

"Drink this!" he said, and pushed it onto her hands. He then retrieved a throw blanket from arm of the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"What happened up there, Swan?" asked Hook, narrowing his eyes.

"I took Walsh up to the roof to break-up with him. He tried to convince me to stay. When I refused—he got angry, and he turned into some kind of monster—some creature that looked like a monkey with wings," she said in a low voice, turning to face Hook. "He knew about you and the potion—he must have been watching you. He—it—tried to attack me. I beat him off and he vanished as he—it—fell to the pavement below."

Hook looked at her with deep concern etched in his face and asked, "He must have been sent from the Enchanted Forest, then?"

"Yeah, probably. Hook, I let him get close to me. I let him get close to Henry."

Hook tentatively reached up to put his arm around her and squeezed her tightly. "Emma…" he started.

"I let him get close to _Henry_," she repeated, cutting him off, with a slightly hysterical note in her voice. "I bought it, you know—whatever he was pulling. Eight months. I brought him home—he hung out with Henry—helped him with school projects. And all this time, it was all a fucking dangerous _lie_. He could have hurt us—hurt my _son_, anytime he wanted to. And yesterday, at the restaurant, he asked me to marry him."

Hook looked taken-aback.

"He was trying to keep us away from Storybrooke, keep me from regaining my memories. If I had said yes, if I had married him…" she trailed off, shuddering.

His fingers tightened their hold on her just a little.

"But you did not say yes," said Hook, in a matter-of-fact voice. "Something stopped you…"

"Yeah…something did…" she looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face. The words _I came back to save you_ hovered over them like a ghostly whisper, but neither one voiced their thoughts out loud.

"Well," said Emma, breaking the silence, and in a stronger, and more normal tone of voice, "That makes it clear. Henry won't be safe if I leave him here. He'll have to come with us to Storybrooke, and we'll have to figure out a way to keep him safe there."

"Your parents and Regina are most likely there, Swan," with a short inclination of his head, drawing back his arm from around her. "There will be several people to help you protect the boy."

Emma shook her head, and sighed. "It's not going to be that simple, Hook. Henry doesn't remember anybody or anything. He'll think I have gone crazy if I introduce David and Mary Margaret as my mom and dad."

"Point taken," said Hook, with a smirk.

"And we'll need to figure out how to introduce you to him."

"You could tell him that I am the dashing Captain Hook," said he, with a characteristic eyebrow lift.

"Yeah—no," said Emma, and rolled her eyes. "I suppose I could say you were a cosplayer. But that probably won't work—unless you are ready to get a perm," she added, with a sly smile.

"Costplayer?" he asked, looking alarmed.

"Never mind! I'll just tell him you're my client, and that we are traveling to Maine to help you on a case. We'll just use your real name."

"Ah! Good plan. And you know my real name, love?" he asked with a challenging sparkle in his eyes.

"Of course I do," said Emma, unable to stop a slight upward twist to her lips.

"_Really_?"

"_Really_," said Emma and got up. "I'd better pack."

Hook got up as well. "Well, I should take my leave, then. I'll see you in the morning."

"Wait!" said Emma, and hesitated. "Where have you been sleeping?" she asked him.

"Oh, I've got by," said he avoiding a direct answer. Emma bit her lip, and said with a softened voice, "You can take the couch for tonight, but Henry will be back by 7 in the morning."

"Thanks, Swan. I'll leave before then."

"Good. Come back close to 9 o'clock, and we should be ready to go."

Emma brought out some blankets and pillows for the couch, and set-about vacuuming up the glass shards on the carpet. Hook seemed fascinated with the device, and spent the next two hours "helping" her, but really getting in her way as she packed and sorted things out around the apartment, in preparation for the trip. When she had put away the last of the clothes they had brought back from the Laundromat, she found Hook peacefully asleep on the couch, his mouth partly open, the leather coat and vest draped across the back of a chair. Emma stood looking at him for a few minutes, sighed, and turned off the lights, then went into her bedroom, and shut the door.

She lay down on her bed, mentally and physically exhausted after all the events of the day. Her mood had changed from anger at Hook for having disrupted her peaceful life, to anger directed inward for letting herself be betrayed in another relationship. Her anger then turned toward Rumpeltstiltskin for making her the savior, and at her parents, for making her the product of True Love. _True Love's Kiss_. Of course it had not worked on her. Those things happened only to other people—people like her parents. _I came back to save you._ He had saved her already. She in turn had to go and save other people, yet again. She sighed, and closed her eyes, letting sleep finally claim her.

_Finis_.


End file.
